Jackson Pleads Guilty To Wire And Mail Fraud

Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., shown with his wife, is facing prison for misuse of campaign funds. Sandi Jackson faces up to 24 months for filing false income tax statements.

Photo: Win McNamee / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Jesse Jackson Jr., the former Democratic representative from Illinois, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of wire and mail fraud in connection with his use of $750,000 in campaign funds to buy exotic items such as fur capes and celebrity memorabilia.

As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend that Jackson receive a sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 28.

When the judge asked for his plea, Jackson, 47, said, “Guilty your honor. I misled the American people.”

He was accompanied by his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, his mother and several brothers and sisters.

Jackson's wife, Sandi, also accompanied him, and later in the day she pleaded guilty to a charge that she filed false income tax statements during the time Jackson was dipping into his campaign treasury. Prosecutors said they would seek to have her sentenced to 18 to 24 months.

Jackson's plea is yet another chapter in the downward spiral of his career.

Elected to Congress in 1995 at age 30 from a district on the South Side of Chicago, where he had grown up, Jackson was once one of the prominent young black politicians in the country, working on issues related to health care and education for the poor.

But as federal authorities investigated Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for trying to sell the Senate seat that President Barack Obama vacated in 2008, they uncovered evidence that one of Jackson's friends had offered to make a contribution to Blagojevich's campaign in exchange for the seat.

Jackson, who has said he had no knowledge of the offer, was never charged in the case. Nevertheless, his name became synonymous with it.

A year before the offer for the Senate seat was made, according to documents released by federal prosecutors, Jackson began to use his campaign funds to buy jewelry.

In July 2007, Jackson was in possession of a $43,350 gold-plated men's Rolex watch that he bought with campaign funds, according to documents released by prosecutors.

Jackson also used campaign funds until 2010 to buy exotic items, such as fur capes, celebrity memorabilia and expensive furniture.

Among those items were a $5,000 football signed by U.S. presidents and two hats that once belonged to Michael Jackson — including a $4,600 fedora. Jackson also bought Bruce Lee memorabilia and items that once belonged to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.